WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following statement regarding reports of a computer breach of the health insurance company, Anthem Inc.:
“The latest report of a cyber intrusion at a major U.S. health insurance company underscores the scary reality American businesses face online,” Ranking Member Carper said. “While Congress has made strides in modernizing and strengthening our nation’s cyber defenses – including the enactment of four significant cybersecurity bills late last year – repeated attacks remind us that we must continue our efforts. Congress must do more to help businesses combat these growing and evolving threats, and we must act swiftly. This includes passing legislation to facilitate increased sharing of cybersecurity threat information between government and the private sector. We must also enact measures to better notify consumers when their personal information has been compromised. By putting into place this strong framework, we can be better prepared to respond to attacks and data theft when they occur and, when possible, prevent these incidents before they happen. I remain committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle as well as the Administration and stakeholders to continue our critical work on cybersecurity and make sure federal agencies and businesses alike can better defend themselves – and their customers — from cyber terrorists and criminals.”
Last Congress, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Committee on Homeland Security worked together to author several cybersecurity bills, which the president signed into law in December. Those include the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (S.2521) to update the Federal Information Security Management Act, the National Cybersecurity Protection Act of 2014 (S.2519) authorizing a National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center at the Department of Homeland Security for information sharing, and two bills to improve the federal cybersecurity workforce — the Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act (H.R.2952) and the Border Patrol Pay Reform Act (S.1691) (which contains provisions from the DHS Cybersecurity Workforce Recruitment and Retention Act of 2014).